


Inside Wayne's World

by ScreamQueenBee (screamqueenbee)



Series: Tales from the Check Out Aisle [2]
Category: DCU (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Magazine Article, Multi, in-universe media
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-27
Updated: 2015-03-27
Packaged: 2018-03-19 20:46:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3623754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/screamqueenbee/pseuds/ScreamQueenBee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An article written by Lois Lane for GQ</p><p>Also known as, I write all of my RHaTO headcanons into in-universe media</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inside Wayne's World

_Inside Wayne’s World_

_By Lois Lane, written for the Summer issue of GQ_

* * *

 

_Okay. So we may have fudged that title a little, he doesn’t go by Wayne anymore, but Jason Todd’s life is no less interesting._

_Part of a Three Part Series_

* * *

 

At first blush, Jason Todd looks like the comeback kid of the Wayne boys. Going from stealing prescription drugs and ripping off street dealers to the perks of being a Wayne is a pretty significant move, but it doesn’t seem to have dulled the natural Jason Todd charm.

We’re sitting in the living room of his apartment, which is sleek and modern, but also lived in. It’s been featured in both Vogue and Wired. There’s tea on the coffee table. He stutters through the first few warm up questions before getting comfortable, commenting that he’s a little jet-lagged. They’re easy questions, mainly about the tattoos that peak out from under the neck of his grey cardigan. They aren’t discussed very often with the media, but there’s been a lot of speculation about what the hat and green glow tattooed behind his ear could mean, especially given his father’s connection to Batman Incorporated.

“I’m so sorry.” He says, with a self-deprecating little laugh. “I’m garbage at this kind of thing. I always have been.”

I assure him that no reporter thinks he’s bad at interviews after the Guardians of the Galaxy Red Carpet incident last year. If the readers will remember, rather rude statements were made to Princess Koriand’r of Tamaran, romantically linked with Todd, which prompted impassioned speeches from him and long-time friend Roy Harper on the carpet.

“That was in the moment.” Jason looks a little embarrassed.  “Harper and I were just so angry, because we didn’t want to make a scene at all. We were just taking our child to the movie, we didn’t want to take away from the actors and everyone else who had worked so hard to make it possible because one misogynistic asshole thought it would be a good idea to call Kori what he did. And he said it in front of our child, who has never heard words like that in their life. Especially directed at women they look up to.

 

 “I don’t really care what people have to say about me, I’m just not that interested.” He laughs, it’s a nice sound. Genuine and loud, proving once again that Jason Todd doesn’t hold anything back. “If it’s really, _really_ bad, I’ll get a call. They’ll say ‘Okay, how do you want to handle this?’ And then we’ll go from there.  If it’s something said about the family, that’s a completely different story. I protect the people around me. True that Harper and Kori are used to being in the public eye, but our child and other loved ones aren’t. There’s an interesting thought that if you’re a public figure, everything about you should be laid bare for scrutiny, including the people around you. There are people we love that do not want that light shone on them and everyone is going to respect that.” There’s conviction in his words, Jason Todd is not a man to fight with about privacy. “I’m pretty much an open book, but the people around me aren’t going to be punished for that.”

At this point in the interview, the sound of tiny feet echo in the hallway leading to the back, private area of the apartment. Jason apologizes and excuses himself to tend to the child, who has awakened from an afternoon nap.

I spend the time by myself looking through a photo album on the table. It’s pretty sentimental; mainly pictures of people in exotic locales, Princess Koriand’r and Roy Harper are prominently featured. There are few pictures of Jason himself, which leads me to believe that he is the accomplished photographer.

Jason returns a few minutes later with the child, whose gender and name are not being disclosed at the request of the family, and feeds them their afternoon snack as we return to talking.

_“There’s a very boisterous group of people lately who condemn your lifestyle, how you flaunt it, and how your ‘lax morals’ could be affecting Wayne Industries and your charities. What do you think about that and how would you respond to them?”_

 

Jason adopts a very thoughtful look, clearly picking his words carefully around the child now coloring at the coffee table.

“I’m pretty sure I know which people you’re talking about and they’re the same people who tried to talk my dad out of adopting Dick and I, then tried to suppress who our little brother’s mom is. They want us to hide. To toe the line of propriety because they think that our actions could reflect badly on the company. They think that the only ‘acceptable’ Wayne son is Tim because he doesn’t have the kind of pasts that they rest of us do. That’s nothing against Tim, it’s not his fault, but it’s bullshit that they want him to be front and center of every little thing. Everything you see and hear is staging. They will drag up and make up anything they can to tear you down.

“For me, hiding is not an option. Call it bad breeding or what have you, but I don’t understand this being one person for the media and another for everyone else. I understand that that’s how some people want to be but, for me, it doesn’t really work. I wouldn’t say I’m flaunting it either, I’m just being myself. Other people are allowed to be themselves in public. What makes us any different? Because we’re public figures? That’s not our fault, we inherited it and we’ve tried to live very private lives at time, but the same things were happening and we were miserable because it felt dishonest, the way we were hiding.” His voice is bitter and he’s pulling the only unattractive expression I’ve seen. “Finally, Kori just asked why we were putting ourselves through it, on Tamaran this kind of thing isn’t even an issue. We discussed it and decided that  we weren’t going to hide anymore. Are we flaunting our lifestyle? Hell, no. We’re just living our lives the way we feel is best for us, the media is who is sensationalizing it.’

_So, what do you have to say to your detractors?_

“If you want to live your life in hate, if the way I protect my family, my actions bother you so badly, then I think you need to take a long, hard look at your own life. What is wrong with you that you feel the need to expend such energy in something that doesn’t really affect you? Honestly, Miss Lane, I don’t understand it. I feel like, everyone is so busy with their own lives, and people who spread vitriolic hate use their time to attack people who are minding their own business.”


End file.
